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But…

Jan 11th 2009Business & Faith & Life

We had a wonderful sermon at church today.  At one point during the sermon, our Pastor read Ephesians 2:3-7:

3 – Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

4 – BUT God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love which He loved us,

5 – even when we were dead to our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

6 – and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

7 – so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Our pastor emphasized the “but”, and he pointed out that when things seem most bleak, one of the most uplifting words we may hear is “but”.  In this case, we could easily take great liberty with the translation and say this:

We are sinners, BUT God through His grace forgives us of that sin and raises us up with His Son.

What a thought provoking point about “but”.  It truly is a word that leads us from deep despair to great hope, and for an optimist, it may very well be the single most important word in any discussion.

In my personal life:

  • The checkbook is empty, BUT we’ve struggled before, we’ve made it through and we’ll do it again.
  • Things aren’t going good for you at work, BUT I have great confidence in you and I know we’ll be ok regardless.
  • You made a mistake, BUT I accept your apology and I know it won’t happen again.

And then in business:

  • We’re very short on cash, BUT we have great people in our company and we will find a way to make do with less.
  • We can’t do everything we wanted to do, BUT a “no” today will be a “yes” in the future.
  • The economy is hammering us right now, BUT we’ll make it through this storm and emerge better than ever.

I’m thankful that God didn’t stop at our sin BUT through His grace raised us up.  I’m thankful that my wife didn’t stop at my flaws BUT loved me in spite of those flaws.  I’m thankful that in business we don’t lose hope BUT in hope look forward to good things that lie ahead.

“But” really is an uplifting word!

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